Showdowns The 20 Greatest Wrestling Rivalries of the Last Two Decades – Book Review

January 7, 2009
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SHOWDOWNS

THE 20 GREATEST RIVALRIES OF THE LAST TWO DECADES

Released by Simon & Schuster 5th January 2009

Revel in some of World Wrestling Entertainments most explosive rivalries, asa host of all-time great WWE Superstars go head to head in Showdowns The 20 Greatest Wrestling Rivalries of the Last Two Decades.

The only book of its kind and one that every wrestling fan will want to read, Showdowns goes to the heart of WWE. For the first time ever the top twenty rivalries of the past twenty years are examined in detail. Witness the backstories that drive the drama inside and outside the ring, fuelling some of wrestling historys epic encounters.

Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels are just some of the Superstars whose long-running battles with their personal arch-nemeses are put under the microscope.

From John Cena and JBLs competitive rivalries to grudge matches between legends The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, to the rebellious and highly entertaining clash between The Texas Rattlesnake and Mr McMahon. From Hulk Hogan and Randy Savages awesome showdowns and Kane and Undertakers eternal struggle, to the genuine conflict that spawned Edge and Matt Hardys in-ring clash, all so vividly described youll stagger away with the bruises. Yes, this time its personal, it’s a feud…it’s a showdown.

Showdowns

by Jeremy Roberts is published by Simon & Schuster on 5th January 2009, priced 9.99.

I found the introduction to this book long and slightly unneccesary, going as far back as 1908 to tell us the story of George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch! As the book does point out though, a good wrestling stoyline depends on a good feud, someone we can love and someone we can destest with a passion; there’s none more passionate than wrestling fans and in this book we read about some of the best feuds, in their opinion, from the past two decades. Stretching from Hogan and Savage right up to Undertaker/Batista, this book covers the more stand out feuds, in among this list has to be at least three that we can all remember!

A couple of my personal favourites from the book include, DX vs the NWO, a feud that never featured a head to head match because, of course, the two factions were actually on different TV Shows, opposite Companies! It doesnt go into enormous detail in the book, but it does point out the that during the ‘Monday Night Wars’ there was a DX invasion of WCW when they turned up in a jeep and tried to storm their way inside one of WCW’s television shows, rallying up the fans outside and eventually being denied access to the arena!

Of course every wrestling fan must have, at some point, seen a Rock/Austin match and or backstage segment, if you haven’t I suggest you go and try to find one somewhere! This feud is definatly historic and very entertaining! Sometimes it would have you jumping out of your seat in frustration or anoyance, and other times it would have you rolling off your seat laughing at it’s hillarity. These two guys deffinatly knew how to put the right amount of each element into the feud to make it work! The book tells us that these two men pulled off matches at three WrestleMania’s, which in itsself is a fantastic achievement, throw into account the countless matches they had on other ppv’s house shows and WWE televised events this HAS to be one of the best feuds the WWE has ever pulled off, due to the fact that they had a couple of legends in the making to work with!

The Rock sums up why this feud went down so well in his ‘Memoirs’ he said; Quote: “The Rock detests Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock realises that Stone Cold Steve Austin is, without a doubt, the biggest piece of Texas trailer-park trash walking God’s green earth! Why does The Rock feel this way? Because the guy personifies what trash would be to The Rock. He’s the exact opposite of The Rock….And you know what? Stone Cold hates The Rock right back, which is fine with The Rock because that’s what makes their rivalry so special!”

We all saw what went on in the ring between the guys in some of these feuds, and although the book does touch upon the real-life conflict that spawned the fantastically bitter Edge and Matt Hardy feud, it doesn’t touch upon any backstage ‘rivalrys’ which is something I think I’d be more interested to hear about. It’s a very ‘kayfabe’ book, which is fine. I liked reading about the feuds and reliving some of the storylines that I loved watching so much, but priced at 9.99, Im not so sure it’d be something I would shell out for this close to an expensive Christmas! Maybe it’s something to put on your list for later in the year!

Good read but nothing that can’t wait!

Showdowns

by Jeremy Roberts is published by Simon & Schuster on 5th January 2009, priced 9.99.